A tale of two tails, Archer are claiming patent infringement in Vertical tail design. Image RHI
eVTOL developer Archer is involved in another lawsuit this time as the plaintiff rather than respondent. The company has filed patent infringement complaint in the US District Court Eastern District of Texas which alleges that Vertical has copied elements of ‘V’ tail design and actuation architecture of the Midnight eVTOL.
Vertical refutes the claims asserting that Archer are ‘without’ merit’ and are ‘merely a distraction from the challenges that it (Archer) is facing in the marketplace with Vertical Chairman Domhnal Slattery responding “Vertical’s aircraft architecture, proprietary technology stack and certification pathway have been independently developed over many years and are protected by a robust portfolio of intellectual property rights. Our focus remains firmly on execution and certification. That is where sustainable value is created – and that is where we are leading.”
Whatever the merits of the case the timing is interesting coming as it does shortly after former Vertical head of engineering Dr. Limhi Somerville joined Archer.
Archer is in the midst of another lawsuit with Joby who allege that Archer carried out industrial espionage connected with he recruitment of former Joby employee George Kivork, who had served as its US state and local policy lead, downloaded and transferred the confidential files which included details of infrastructure strategies for vertiport and airport operations, business and regulatory strategies, as well as technical information about the S4 aircraft, shortly before resigning and joining Archer in July of this year. The filing also claims that Kivork changed file permissions so that he could still have access after leaving the company. That case is due for an initial hearing in mid-March.
